SpiritCare Weekly Meditation, July 9, 2020

During the pandemic I have been sending a weekly meditation to the activity directors of the communities I used to visit in person.  Some include these meditations in their weekly newsletters, and some read the meditations out loud to their residents.  Some, no doubt, sigh, roll their eyes and simply delete.  However, I receive enough thank you notes that lead me to believe they are being received in the spirit that they are sent: that is, of course, love.  

The text below seems quite timely for us all, so I thought I would send it to you.  Blessings in this time.   At the moment I am listening to some wonderful African music.  The attached image seems to be dancing along.  Not exactly the green hills strewn with colorful flowers that I envision in Isaiah, but close enough. 

 

Love to you all in this time and always.     

---------- Forwarded message --------

Hello Everyone, 

July is underway. I pray this note finds you well, and everyone is staying cool during the warm afternoons.  Blessings on your work, and may you be finding time to enjoy the summer season while tending to your work and caring for your families and yourselves.  You are in our prayers.  Please let us know if there is a need we might be able to help with. You are loved and held.    

   

Scripture:  Isaiah 55:12-13    

Yes, you will go out with celebration and you will be brought back in peace.
Even the mountains and the hills will burst into song before you;

all the trees of the field will clap their hands. In place of the thorn the cypress will grow in place of the nettle the myrtle will grow.
This will attest to the Lord’s stature, an enduring reminder that won’t be removed.

     

Meditation:  

This afternoon I found myself in the text of Isaiah, and pondering its beautiful words of encouragement.  This text speaks to those who may be in isolation or feel exiled from those they love. Here we hear God's assurance that we have not been forgotten.  We also hear that we can look forward to being gathered together in celebration and peace. Furthermore, we will not be celebrating alone; all of life will rejoice with us. Even the trees will be clapping and there will be music everywhere.  Aren't these beautiful images?  I wish I were a painter.  I would paint dancing trees, emerald green hills, and a beautiful river.  I would include all kinds of flowers, and yes, the blooming myrtle.  I just read that the myrtle is the Hebrew symbol for marriage.  God is declaring that his relationship with us will endure the test of time. We belong to God and to one another forever.    

We are often impatient for our time of exile to be over.  However, in chapter 55:8, we hear God telling us that our ways and not God's ways.  What I am hearing is that God is telling us to be patient, and to let God be God.  We are often tempted to plead and demand our case with God. We feel we know exactly what we need.  Yet, it is not God's way to always give us what we think we need right when we think we need it. That is the way of a child.  We may be fussy now, but we will be brought back in peace.  Let us not waste time in doubt and worry, but rather in prayer and preparation for the time when all will be revealed in song and celebration.  Let us have the courage to believe these wonderful words of life.        

    

Prayer:  

Holy Eternal God, we thank you that you speak to us of encouragement.  You know at times we struggle with patience, even to the point where our faith begins to fray. We thank you for your forgiveness, and your steadfast love that never lets us go.  Holy One, continue to stir our hearts in this time.  We thank you for those who tend to our care.  May we remember that we all wait together.  Yet in this waiting, you give us the bread of life and the cup of salvation.  You offer us reconciliation at the table of Christ that is always set before us. May we be content, knowing that your vast love is unlimited, and such love can fill our hearts to overflowing if we say yes to the invitation to rest and trust completely in your love.     

 In Christ we gratefully pray, Amen.    

 

All the News

Today, I am distracted.  The news I am reading about what is happening in some of our skilled nursing communities is heartbreaking.  I have spent almost 13 years visiting skilled nursing communities, singing in skilled nursing, praying, serving Communion, laughing, and sometimes weeping, all in the course of a single day.   I am missing those I serve and those I serve with.  SpiritCare has some of the most loyal, attentive volunteers that any ministry or 501c3 could hope for.  

Of course, serving these communities sometimes does have its difficulties, but I have always felt a sacred presence among the residents. Yes, in some communities the staff turnover is high.  It is not easy work and many employees are underpaid.  Yet, there are those I have seen every month for years, and my heart goes out to those who are impacted by this virus, and the prayer requests I have received.  

  

I have read more than one letter to the editor and seen more than one protest sign announcing that we should just let the old and frail die so everyone else can go about their lives.  However, we cannot let a callous few destabilize our intentions.  We may not be able to visit these communities in person, but we are reaching out in a variety of ways to let people know that they do not live and work in vain, and that even when facing something as silent and mysterious as this pandemic, God is right there with them. So are our prayers, our emails, our love.   

The reactions of ageism, selfishness, and anger that we are witnessing right now are rooted in fear.  However, we have always been called to face fear with love. Love is what SpiritCare has always brought to the communities, and love is what we will continue to bring.  Maybe in different ways right now, but we are still reaching out because that is what the ministry has done for over thirty years.   

Our gratitude to those who are contacting the ministry with offers of masks, prayers, and friendship.  Fear-filled times can bring out the worst in us, or the best.  Fortunately, we are seeing more of the latter.  Let us keep going.    

  

In Gratitude, 

Rev. Sue Ann    

   

 If we love each other, God remains in us and his love is made perfect in us.   

1 John 4:12b   

 

 photograph:  last day in April, 2020, San Leandro